gamedogluke

Yorgos Lanthimos is one of those directors' people either love or hate, with most of his films being ever so subjective. They're always very out there and sometimes very hard to follow or take seriously because of how bizarre they are. However, if there is one thing Lanthimos knows how to do, it's how to make the audience feel tense and uncomfortable during the entire duration of his films. The Killing Of a Sacred Deer is no exception. Lanthimos did a great job of making me feel uneasy from the very first opening shot, and making that feeling last for the full 121 minutes.

However, another trait he's known for is his strange characters, and I mean really messed up. It's as if his goal was to make all the characters in the film as unrelatable as possible. This removed any kind of emotional connection I could have had with the characters, which of course ruined a couple of scenes in the film for me. The dialogue though, irritated me during the whole film. It's as if the writers don't understand how people communicate and interact with one another, almost as if the writing team have all got autistic tendencies. Like adults having conversations at dinner parties bringing up their daughters menstrual cycles and fully grown men showing teenagers their armpit hair are just two of many weird exchanges the characters make during the film. All of this however does add to the odd vibe that the director is clearly going for which is a success on his part.

However in films (especially in thrillers), I want to be able to connect with the characters, to create a greater impact when something tragic happens to them. I don't want to be shaking my head at the dialogue and choices the characters make. But with the scrip that's all I seemed to be doing. I feel that if this film had the same plot and cinematography but changed its script, I would consider it an 8/10 but the script (for me anyway) holds it back from achieving that by a couple of marks.

IN SUMMARY: If you're a fan of Yorgos Lanthimos's other works such as Dogtooth and The Lobster, you'll definitely find loads of enjoyment from this and perhaps even consider it one of the films of the year. For people who have never watched a film of his before and feel curious enough to see it, approach it with caution as it is not your average film and features a lot of artistic choices which will seem strange to people who have no idea who Lanthimos is. Lastly if you don't like any of Lanthimos's other works, I'm afraid this one is not going to win you over.

my initial reaction when I first saw the trailer to this was " hey this is going to be one of the best films of 2017" and I couldn't have been more wrong. this is certainly one of the most disappointing films of this year so far, in my opinion of course. I really wanted to like this film as well, It had a talented cast of people working behind it and a seemingly emotional premise, but I couldn't help leaving the cinema disappointed. the film was full of too many scenes, where not much happened but they were stretched out beyond belief. for example, there is a certain scene in this film which I will remember for all the wrong reasons. in this scene M (Rooney Mara), comes home devastated following seeing her recently deceased partner. She receives a pie from a well-meaning friend, she grabs a fork, slumps on the floor and proceeds to stress eat until she throws up. All while this goes on, C (Casey Affleck) stands watching her. This scene lasts for about 6 or 7 minutes, which ends up feeling like an eternity. It was at this point were a few people decided they'd had enough, and walked out. This film wasted so much acting potential too, in terms of the two main actors (Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara). I don't get how people are even saying he did a great job, I mean its slightly disappointing that he went from giving one of last year's best performances in Manchester by the sea and has ended up in this film, were he is not able to show his real acting potential. Rooney Mara is wasted as well, as mentioned earlier her longest scene is when she stress eats a pie for 7 minutes. But I get it, this film is meant and wants to be different. But that's all I'll remember it by, and not the good kind of different for me either. Critics seem to love it though, as different seems to appeal to them. In fact, the split in quality between how your average viewer sees it and how critics see it is certainly present. For a film which has such a relatable topic (with the topic being about death, which everyone goes through and must deal with)the film manages to somehow make you feel disconnected from the characters. while the film had a quite serious ending, when the title card 'a ghost story' appeared on screen, people began to laugh at what a mess it was and how they had clearly just wasted an hour and a half which they'll never get back.

IN SUMMARY: an excruciatingly boring plot, which is stretched, so some scenes, which in any other film would only be a minute long, are seven times as long. The plot is also told with too many metaphors because it's trying way too hard to be different. Disappointing acting performances, no development in the characters and very flat cinematography. People who either have a lot of patience or love arty and different films, may find this somewhat enjoyable, but for everyone else its not worth your time or money

to start off with, if you're going into this film hoping to see plenty of smiths songs and smiths related stuff, you're going to be disappointed. however this film is a realistic, enlightening and well made insight into a young, socially awkward yet likable Stephen Patrick Morrissey, trying to get his voice heard in the cramped music scene of the 1970/80s. Jack Lowden (Morrissey) who may not really look a lot like Morrissey, does a excellent job of portraying all of his unique characteristics and making him likable in the processes.

as a massive smiths fan I was of course disappointed at the absence of any smiths songs, however the music was still very good, using a lot of mid 70s tracks, which is sure to give a lot of older fans nostalgia. the only problem I found was that I originally knew this would obviously be a dramatization like most film biographies, but I then found out later that this is an unauthorized film, meaning that all of this could of possibly been false information, which is a bit of a waste of an hour and a half if it is.

altogether though it was a very well made film with lots of style and memorable performances. hopefully a follow-up will be made in the future which focuses more on the smiths and their road to becoming one of the most recognizable bands ever made.